The Shepherd and the Star - Part IX
The air was completely solid, frozen and dead. Shadows had conquered the downcast chamber deep within the very bowels of an enormous metal giant as it sank through the eternal ocean of icy, black space. The dust-soaked beam which hung above suddenly started to reactivate, and flickered once and then again. The gentle glow bathed the closed eyelids of a young corpse as she lay, almost congealed against the damp floor strips. A heavy wind brushed over her and her eyes began to shuffle. She was roused by the noise of her own weighty, frightened breathing and blasted her eyes open wide, and she came back from a deadly precipice. She shivered and whimpered and glanced around, confused, unsettled, devoid of a single train of thought. In a rush of shock, she hurled her cold body into the corner of the small compartment and shook as she clutched her knees and rocked back and forth. She looked at her own hands as if she were looking upon a stranger’s, and witnessed them tremble as her mind lay in fragments. She did not know who she was, or how she had come to be there. She hid her face from the eyes of the desolate chamber, and quivered as a tremor crept down her spine. Her lips, blue from the cold, shuddered and shuddered, and she cried. She knew that she was very young, and was now conscious that she had lengthy, drenched russet hair. She was not quite an adult yet; her body ached and was only about two decades fresh. After a few long moments, she peeked up beyond the fence of her wrist and glimpsed around again. She wanted to be anywhere else, but not in this obscure incarceration. She felt an awkward drumming resonate from within her chest as her organs grew tolerant of their abrupt revitalization. Her arms rubbed each other comfortingly, and that was when the girl became aware of the stretched clothes she was wearing. They had burn marks and were ripped all over, and patches of what might have once been blood steeped into the thin, frail fabric. They were old, foul and stank like an aged carcass and as she tried to think, she felt her body shake with astonishing warmth, and as she recovered her long lost body heat her breathing started to slow. She closed her eyes and dropped her head soothingly against the wall, and allowed her hair to act like a slim pillow. She rested and finally began to settle, before she reopened her eyes again and saw something imbedded high up onto the black wall opposite. A rounded emblem with a curled icon carved into it, an early pattern which meant ‘infinity’ in millions of cultures across the immensity of an adolescent universe, and it had burn scars across the surface of its luxurious metal. Something had happened here on this ship, something horrific, and she had no reflection on what it was. Her former intelligence was cleaned out, and she could only scavenge the smallest piece; she knew she was on a ship in space, and she knew that she was alone. That was all. She closed her eyes again, suddenly ignorant of the strange seal above and instead overwhelmed with fatigue, but her timid curiosity kept her stirring. There was a clash of warring metals which echoed down from several decks above as the transport pods of an old mining ship latched onto the side of the vessel, and from the fugitives they carried as they each started to break into lone parts of the hull. She beckoned her nerve and reached forward with a wavering hand, and then pulled herself out of the corner. She was still getting used to wielding her body and as time had passed since she had revived, her sight had learned to gaze beyond the darkness and the shadows, and spotted a hatch just a few metres away. Very slowly she moved using her arms more than her legs as she edged towards it whilst she softly sniffed away the tears, keeping her head turning every couple of seconds as her eyes checked her surroundings fretfully. There was frost on the handle which sent an odd sensation reversing back through her body, which made her fend off another shiver. She almost surrendered to it at first, but instead focused on the round handle and began to twist it with both hands, using all of her strength to do so. A loud creak rattled the airwaves, until it was killed by an even louder click as the hatch unsealed. She pulled, and then fell back and caught her breath. She was too weak for this, but she needed to be warmer. She needed more heat than she was getting here, and so she inched into the gap between the open access and the hatchway and then slipped across the threshold. It was time to discover this strange new place. in Part X